Despite SC Pressure, National IDs Long Way Off

Despite SC Pressure, National IDs Long Way Off 17 Jan 2009, 0402 hrs IST, Vishwa Mohan, TNN NEW DELHI: Even as the Supreme Court has urged the government to enforce mandatory Multi-Purpose National Identity Card (MNIC) system across the country, it appears to be long way before the Centre can make some progress in this direction as the ongoing effort has hardly moved beyond the "pilot project" stage in five years. The scheme of issuing MNIC to citizens, which was launched in November 2003, has so far only distributed 30.95 lakhs such cards to citizens in 11 states and two UTs. Referring to suggestion made by the Supreme Court which on Thursday asked the government to think over making the MNIC system mandatory, officials in the home ministry said though the Centre was trying hard to implement it, the incomplete National Population Register made it difficult to carry the pace. An official said, "Since a number of states do not have computerised system of keeping full records of birth and death registration, the MNIC scheme could not move beyond the pilot project stage." While suggesting the government to enforce mandatory MNIC system across the country to check illegal immigration, particularly from Bangladesh. the apex court also noted that once the MNIC scheme and National Register of Indian Citizens were implement, it would be easier to identify illegal immigrants. The court also asked the government to submit a status report on the MNIC's pilot project in eight weeks. Officials in the home ministry said that under the the MNIC -- which is a micro-processor based smart card -- citizens got smart cards, comprising as many as 16 personal details of an individual along with a unique national identity number, within a month. AS per the existing plan, entire population of the country will be covered by 2012, they said. "These identity cards - based on a sophisticated application called SCOSTA - are basically secured electronic devices that are used for keeping data and other information in such a way that only authorised users are permitted to see or write the data", said a senior home ministry official. Besides comprising name, sex, permanent and present residential addresses, marital status, place of birth, names of spouse (if ever married) and photograph, the cards also have 'finger biometrics' and 'visible identification mark' of an individual. The records will be kept as a part of National Register of Indian Citizens. The register will be continuously updated by linking it to the compulsory registration of births and deaths. The official said: "Once the entire population will be covered, there will not be a need to even issue separate voters identity cards as the MNIC can also be used as identification in elections. Besides being used as a credible individual identification system, the smarts cards will also act as a major deterrent for future illegal immigrants". Though the pilot project to provide MNICs to citizens was launched in 2003, it had eventually taken the government nearly four years to deliver the first card under the scheme in 2007. The areas which have so far been covered included villagers of Pooth Khurd (Narela) in Delhi, Karimganj in Assam, Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, Kutch in Gujarat, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, Pithoragarh in Uttranchal, Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh, West Tripura in Tripura, Murshidabad in West Bengal, north district in Goa, Medak in Andhra Pradesh, Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu, Northwest district in Delhi and Puducherry district in Puducherry. Meanwhile, the government has initiated yet another plan to strengthen the scheme of giving Ientity Cards to citizens. It has approved the constitution of the "Unique Indentification Authority of India" in the Planning Commission with a dedicated team at the central and state level for the purpose of creating a "Unique Identity Database" of all citizens.

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